AP Euro Chapter 20: Terms

Industrial Revolution

the burst of major inventions and economic expansion that began in Britain in the late 18th century

spinning jenny

a simple, inexpensive, hand-powered machine created by James Hargreaves in 1765

water frame

A spinning machine created by Richard Arkwright that had a capacity of several hundred spindles and used water power; therefore required a larger and and more specialized mill

steam engines

A breakthrough invention by Thomas Savery in 1689 and Thomas Newcomen in 1705 that burned coal to produce steam, which was then used to operate a pump; the early models were superseded by James Watt’s more efficient steam engine, patented in 1769

Rocket

the name given to George Stephensons effective locomotive that was first tested in 1829 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at 24 mph

Crystal Palace

The location of the Great Exhibition in 1851 in London, an architectural masterpiece made entirely out of glass and metal

iron law of wages

THeory proposed by English economist David Richard suggesting that the pressure of population growth prevents wages from rising above the subsistence level

tariff protection

A gov’ts way of supporting and aiding its own economy by laying high taxes on imported goods from other countries, as when the French responded to cheaper British goods flooding their country by imposing high tariffs on some imported goods

Factory Acts

English laws passed from 1802 to 1833 that limited the workday of child laborers and set minimum hygiene requirements

separate spheres

A gender division of labor with the wife at home as a mother and homemaker and the husband as a wage earner

Mines Act of 1842

English law prohibiting underground work for all women and girls and as well as far as boys under ten

class-consciousness

awareness of belonging to a distinct social and economic class whose interests might conflict with those of other classes

Luddites

group of handicraft workers who attacked factories in northern England in 1811

Combination Acts 

British laws passed in 1799 that outlawed union nas strikes, favoring capital business people over skilled artisans